General characteristics

Supply: 3 to 15V, small fluctuations are tolerated.

Inputs have very high impedance (resistance), this is good because it means they will not affect the part of the circuit where they are connected. However, it also means that unconnected inputs can easily pick up electrical noise and rapidly change between high and low states in an unpredictable way. This is likely to make the IC behave erratically and it will significantly increase the supply current. To prevent problems all unused inputs MUST be connected to the supply (either +Vs or 0V), this applies even if that part of the IC is not being used in the circuit!

Outputs can sink and source only about 1mA if you wish to maintain the correct output voltage to drive CMOS inputs. If there is no need to drive any inputs the maximum current is about 5mA with a 6V supply, or 10mA with a 9V supply (just enough to light an LED). To switch larger currents you can conenct a transistor.

Fan-out: one output can drive up to 50 inputs.

Gate propagation time: typically 30ns for a signal to travel through a gate with a 9V supply, it takes a longer time at lower supply voltages.

Frequency: up to 1MHz, above that the 74 series is a better choice.

Power consumption (of the IC itself) is very low, a few µW. It is much greater at high frequencies, a few mW at 1MHz for example.

There are many ICs in the 4000 series and this page only covers a selection, concentrating on the most useful gates, counters, decoders and display drivers.